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them rented them from someone else who did. There was a real rush to bring the most wood into town. Others traveled to the villages and transported whole peasant houses to town; in the space of a few months many new houses were thus erected in Drohitchin.

        The old House of Study was rebuilt the same way, as was the Street House of Study. Whoever had a horse and wagon offered to bring wood from the forest. Artisans volunteered their services, while others helped with money. In a short time the Old Synagogue was rebuilt.

[Photo:] First row, from right: Heska Feldman, Velvel Mishovsky, Manya Padarovsky. Second row: Gedaliah Kaplan, Sheinka Feldman, Chaim Leib Eisenstein, Esther Mishkovsky. Third row: Leah Mendelson, Sonia Piasetsky, Hershel Shkolnick and Yosef Feldman.

P.

The Germans leave, and the Poles arrive

        After the Germans lost Drohitchin, the city had no civilian government. The town quickly set up a Jewish self-defense unit armed with a few rusty rifles, guarding against attacks from outside of town.

        A few weeks later, a group of Bolsheviks came to town, and were well-received by the residents of town. People took them in as guests in their homes, providing them with food and drink. For their part, the Bolsheviks were very respectful, and made huge promises to the Jews.

        In the evening, the Bolsheviks left for Antopolia, and the next morning we saw some of them running back to town. In Antopolia the small group of Bolsheviks ran into a larger group of Poles who beat them up.

        The same week, the Poles entered Drohitichin, and we had the feeling that the real "owners" of Drohitchin were arriving. The Poles immediately showed us what they were made of. A child died, and was being taken to the cemetery for burial. Some Poles started shooting over the child, and killed the horse. Another lucky day that Jews got through in one piece. In other cities, the Poles showed even greater "bravery" in their relationship to Jews.

        The Polish army was well equipped with all types of weaponry and was well clothed. In one single day the Poles were in Drohitchin and grabbed up all the chickens in town. That same evening they left town for Yanovo. They left in town a commander and policemen to maintain order, as well as a Polish court. Aharon Asher Shifra's was appointed as mayor, and life in town started getting back to normal. The Jews started getting their lives back together to the extent where they believed that all their suffering would end.

Q.

The Bolsheviks drive out the Poles

         People were scarcely able to catch their breaths when new trouble arrived. Merely two short months after the Poles took over the Pinsk region, the Bolsheviks drove them out. All the Jews in the cities and towns where

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the Poles passed through now faced enormous problems. I remember how on the ninth of Av, a fast day and day of mourning, a gang of Poles burst into the chassidic synagogue while we were attending the Minchah [Afternoon] Service in stocking feet with phylacteries and prayer shawls. They then proceeded to go after the livestock of the tired Jews, and take the animals to Antopolia. This was one of the smaller events to occur. Gangs of armed Poles ran like wild animals from house to house, looting and savagely beating Jews. They grabbed the boots and shoes of every Jewish man and woman, while at night lying in the attic, I could hear terrible wailing from Jewish homes where the Polish gangs were pillaging the helpless Jews.

        One day, a couple of Poles burst into my house and demanded money. They went through my pockets, and when they were dissatisfied with the small amount of money they found, they pointed their guns at me, threatening to shoot me if I didn't show them where my money was hidden. My family started crying, and only with great suffering were we able to get the Poles to leave. The Poles' looting, beating and rape went on for a whole week, until the last Polish thief was chased out of Drohitchin.

        When the Bolsheviks arrived in Drohitchin, everyone crawled out of their hiding places and went out on the street with great joy at having gotten rid of the Poles. Small children trailed after the Bolsheviks without any fear, as if they were one of us.

        I suffered personal loss at the hands of the Bolsheviks. As is known, the Bolsheviks were starving for leather products, and were looking for any valuable item. I was identified as someone who worked in the leather business, and a group of Bolshevik officers came to my house, and I gave them all the leather I had. They paid me with their paper money. When the news got around that I had leather, groups of soldiers came to my house, and wouldn't leave until they had taken away the last bit of leather I had buried in my garden.

        Apart from that incident, nothing else happened to me. Life was calm in town, and we continued with our usual agricultural work. We were starting to harvest the potato crop, and the Bolsheviks helped us with the work. None of us believed that the Bolsheviks would stay in town forever.

R.

The Poles drive out the Bolsheviks

        In the meantime, the Poles were obtaining assistance from other countries, as well as from debtors, and started driving out the Bolsheviks, who were already in Warsaw. When we heard the news that the Bolsheviks were retreating, and that we would again have to face suffering from the approaching Poles and their partners, the debtors and murderers, we became terribly frightened. Not long thereafter, just before Rosh Hashanah, we saw the first retreating Bolsheviks soldiers in town. A few days before Yom Kippur Drohitchin was filled with Bolsheviks, and all the Jews from surrounding villages flocked to town because of their fear of the debtors.

        I will never forget that Yom Kippur and the fear that fell upon all of us. I led the prayers for the Mussaf services in the chassidic synagogue, and all the women had gone to the old cemetery to "tear up" the graves; their crying and screaming tore the heavens, and we heard it all in the synagogue, and started crying together with them. We prayed to G-d to have mercy on us and save us from the murderous debtors.

        On the first day of Sukkot, Drohitchin was caught in the crossfire between the Poles and Bolsheviks. Cannon shells from both sides flew over our heads, and many landed in town. The bombardment stopped for just a couple of hours, and things were quiet. We climbed out of the cellars and ditches, and went back to our homes. Looking out through the draped windows we saw Poles marching into town. No one dared stick his head out the door, and we were all terrified about what the next day would bring.

S.

We were in danger

        When the Poles left for the front in Pinsk, Drohitchin was without any government. There were a couple of gendarmes on the Sand, but they provided little security for the town.

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